Octopus Overlords

I don't think anyone has posted this one yet, but a favorite that has been out of print for a very long time and highly sought after is coming back via Kickstarter. Endeavor has long been clamored for to return to print. This reprint looks fantastic with great components, and also brand new rules for 2 player. It's a mid-weight euro game that plays in a little over an hour. I have played the original version before and found it to be pretty good, and the new production quality is just fantastic. I'm in for the Commodore level which is incredibly reasonable at $63.

Only 24 hours to go BTW.

hepcat wrote: Tue Feb 27, 2018 11:25 pm So it looks like CMON used Wikipedia to research Japanese mythological creatures for their game Rising sun...and inadvertently included one that was actually added to the site as a joke on some random dude’s friend in New Zealand..

Honestly, it makes me wanna play it even more.

That's just awesome. What I like about it is that CMON owned up to it and gave him and his friends kickstarter versions of the game. That's just a great move after a pretty silly mistake.

Just a reminder that there is a Kickstarter 2018 thread.

Personally, I don't have an issue with just having a generic Kickstarter thread. But it does get a little confusing when people are posting new KS projects in the thread from last year.

TheMix wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:54 pm Just a reminder that there is a Kickstarter 2018 thread.

Personally, I don't have an issue with just having a generic Kickstarter thread. But it does get a little confusing when people are posting new KS projects in the thread from last year.

Whoops. Forgot there was a new one. I'll cross post in it. Thanks.

Cross posted from accidentally being put into the 2017 thread.

I don't think anyone has posted this one yet, but a favorite that has been out of print for a very long time and highly sought after is coming back via Kickstarter. Endeavor has long been clamored for to return to print. This reprint looks fantastic with great components, and also brand new rules for 2 player. It's a mid-weight euro game that plays in a little over an hour. I have played the original version before and found it to be pretty good, and the new production quality is just fantastic. I'm in for the Commodore level which is incredibly reasonable at $63.

Only 24 hours to go BTW.

Yeah, I didn't catch that either. I just did a CTRL-F for 'Kickstarter' on the front page. Given how many projects cross years (or multiple years), it would really make sense to just have a single ongoing thread. The old threads are going to be endlessly bumped up as older Kickstarters fulfill anyway, and it will be a pain remembering which thread holds which discussions.

Blackhawk wrote: Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:56 pm Yeah, I didn't catch that either. I just did a CTRL-F for 'Kickstarter' on the front page. Given how many projects cross years (or multiple years), it would really make sense to just have a single ongoing thread. The old threads are going to be endlessly bumped up as older Kickstarters fulfill anyway, and it will be a pain remembering which thread holds which discussions.

+1 to this... At least until all Kickstarters come out exactly on time....

Endeavor is an interesting Euro. I am mixed on backing because it only adds a little more to what I already have, plus a little clarification and streamlining.

Damn, the stretch goals really did improve the component quality. Now I'm buying a game I already own.

Zarathud wrote:Damn, the stretch goals really did improve the component quality. Now I'm buying a game I already own.

Yeah I was pushing on it because I have access to the game already until I saw the component upgrades and that was enough to push me over the edge for this edition.

Zarathud wrote: Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:33 am Damn, the stretch goals really did improve the component quality. Now I'm buying a game I already own.

I like the Exploits (or Explot as they call it in one section). That wasn't in the original game, was it?

Also, will this game also create thread after thread on BGG about slavery as a resource in a game?

hepcat wrote: Thu Mar 01, 2018 9:49 am

Zarathud wrote: Thu Mar 01, 2018 3:33 am Damn, the stretch goals really did improve the component quality. Now I'm buying a game I already own.

I like the Exploits (or Explot as they call it in one section). That wasn't in the original game, was it?

Also, will this game also create thread after thread on BGG about slavery as a resource in a game?

I think there's already been extensive discussion about that on BGG in the past if I remember right with the original edition. It's interesting the way they handle it in this game.

Saturday I attended an open playtest of a new railroad game, Railroad Rivals.



The basic game (all that was being played) is simple enough. You have tiles that represent cities, which can connect with up to 4 others. Each of those connections represents a early railroad and once you make a connection, you place a train indicating you own that rail segment. Goods cubes are placed on the city (one for each connection) and during the delivery phase, players take turns delivering a cube, either via their rail connection or one of their opponents. Stock in the railroad making the delivery goes up one.

I'd guess a game with moderately experienced players would take about an hour. I'm interested to see what the advanced rules bring to the game -- the basic game does provide a nice intro into the railroad genre.

Kickstarter on this game launches March 20.

So what's the deal with this thread, do we post things from kickstarters we think were last year here?

Railways of Nippon has finally arrived. I think it was last year...but honestly it could have been late 2016 for all I know. Anyways we tried it out and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Really I am looking forward to see what people come up with the free antarctica map.

I have no idea. I still think we should ask if a mod can merge the two threads (can that be done?) and retitle it to 'Kickstarter.' If not, just pick a thread, retitle it, and lock the other.

Blackhawk wrote:I have no idea. I still think we should ask if a mod can merge the two threads (can that be done?) and retitle it to 'Kickstarter.' If not, just pick a thread, retitle it, and lock the other.

I approve of this approach.

Since it got misplaced in the 2017 thread (see the Meta forum about that), I'll echo this here: Batman: Gothan City Chronicles is currently at 2.8 million dollars with 20 days to go. It is a Batman themed miniatures board game which is, from what I've heard, based on the Conan rules from a few years ago (same developer.) They've created three others in the past, and it looks like they've delivered all three in playable condition and on time, and have actively supported the game after launch.

I love this game. It's pretty pricey, but the kids, who I've turned into almost as big of DC fans as I am, have decided to chip in some of their saved allowance money (and they spend very little), so I should be able to get in on the lowest tier.

Blackhawk wrote: Sat Mar 10, 2018 10:43 pm It's pretty pricey

I'll say. Only two levels to pledge at, $140 for the base game or $320 for everything, although I'm sure you could get individual extras in their Pledge Manager. And no pressure but it will not be available at retail. I'd really love to do some level of this but the wife would kill me... if she found out.

They just added Ra's al Ghul. Bluebird is next, and they announced Black Mask, which is a great choice. Aesthetically, he's one of my favorite Batman villains.

For what it’s worth, the Conan (used by Batman) system is really good. I went in on the Kings Pledge during the Conan Kickstarter and don’t regret it. It is possibly my favorite 1 vs all game system.

I haven’t really followed the Batman campaign because I’m not super into the comic book setting but are they doing a persistent multi-scenario campaign book for this one? The campaign in Conan is awesome and I really think they hurt themselves by having it be a paid add-on instead of in the game by default.

I don't believe so. Which, honestly, is fine by me. I love campaign games, but my group is too fluid. Campaign games simply never get played because who is present always changes.

I wish it wasn't just 1 v all as I really avoid those type of games. I get really sick of always being the one. And the lack of a retail option sucks. But it does look like boxes full of Batman.

Because of how the gem system works it’s pretty easy for people to swap roles. I would almost say it’s less complex to play the overlord. Gems are both Action Points and a characters Defense Stat. The overlord gets a number of gems each turn to use on activating groups of figures. Figures on the board are represented by a tile in the overlords player-board. Tiles on the left are cheap to activate; tiles on the right are expensive. After activating, the tile representing the group of figures is moved to the last space of the river, thus increasing their cost to move again substantially. This means all players generally know what figures are going to move next. Now the overlord could use a bunch of gems to activate the same unit twice, but that would burn through his entire pool and mean that he couldn’t defend at all on the next heroes turn. Since most figures only have a single hit point, almost any attack by the heroes could kill them. This creates a reliance on tactics as you try to maximize the value of your troops and gems.

The same gem allocation system is used by the heroes but for them, they apply gems to individual abilities on their player boards to take those actions.

I don't back PC games very much anymore but Iron Harvest has my full attention. Real time strategy in the style of CoH/Dawn of War 2 and set in the same steampunk mech universe as Scythe.

I got my copy of Heroes of Land, Air, and Sea today. It looks pretty sweet, but I need to get the pieces assembled. Hopefully I can get a solo game in at some point soon.

Lordnine wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:10 pm I don't back PC games very much anymore but Iron Harvest has my full attention. Real time strategy in the style of CoH/Dawn of War 2 and set in the same steampunk mech universe as Scythe.

Looks exactly like CoH, but with steampunk-ish mechs. I'll pick it up on Steam some day, if it makes it that far.

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Feb 21, 2017 10:08 pm Holy crap - Tragic twist for the disastrous Robotech Kickstarter as designer is driven to suicide by backers:

There’s no doubt that there are parties at fault in this whole debacle. Four years after the initial Kickstarter, Palladium Books have made a downright mess of things. Backers are angry, as they have every right to be. But to have lashed out at a game designer, to the point of driving him to suicide? That’s really, really messed up.

A year later, the official end of this KS project is here - and it's not good:

“It is with sadness and tremendous heartbreak that I announce that, despite our best efforts, we are unable to produce the Robotech RPG Tactics Wave Two rewards,” Siembieda wrote to backers on Feb. 27. “Moreover, after proudly carrying the legacy of Robotech in the role-playing games medium for 30 years, our license has expired and is not being renewed.”

Kelric wrote:

Lordnine wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:10 pm I don't back PC games very much anymore but Iron Harvest has my full attention. Real time strategy in the style of CoH/Dawn of War 2 and set in the same steampunk mech universe as Scythe.

Looks exactly like CoH, but with steampunk-ish mechs. I'll pick it up on Steam some day, if it makes it that far.

Am I the only one that always thinks City of Heroes when people use the abbreviation CoH?

hentzau wrote:

Kelric wrote:

Lordnine wrote: Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:10 pm I don't back PC games very much anymore but Iron Harvest has my full attention. Real time strategy in the style of CoH/Dawn of War 2 and set in the same steampunk mech universe as Scythe.

Looks exactly like CoH, but with steampunk-ish mechs. I'll pick it up on Steam some day, if it makes it that far.

Am I the only one that always thinks City of Heroes when people use the abbreviation CoH?

Nope, CoH will always be the best CoH - City of Heroes - to me.

My woman might shoot me, but I went with the All-in on Batman

Harkonis wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:09 am My woman might shoot me, but I went with the All-in on Batman

I have that one flagged... it doesn't look like anything I would ever play, but I want it anyway. I mean it's freaking Batman!

I think one time in life, everyone should go "all in" on a KS project. I'd never play it either, but those miniatures look like they'd be fun to paint and display.

They're well over 150 miniatures right now, and haven't hit the late boost. Estimates I'm seeing put the likely all-in total at 200+ miniatures (plus the game, of course! )

I'm in for base pledge right now, with the kids each chipping in to pay for it. It would be a seriously questionable decision for me to go all-in, but DC is my thing and board games are my thing and miniatures are my thing. If they would just throw in a video game, it would be a perfect quadfecta!

But seriously questionable.

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:44 am I think one time in life, everyone should go "all in" on a KS project. I'd never play it either, but those miniatures look like they'd be fun to paint and display.

I wish this were something I have only done once in my lifetime. I seem to have a problem where I either don't back a kickstarter at all, or I find myself going in for all of the bling. All of it. I think deep down inside this is all a result of serious regret I still have for not backing the collector's edition of small world. Now I always worry I will miss out again... so I seem to be all in or all out. Generally the base entry is the best value in terms of things you will actually use.

But I will say every time I go all in I enjoy opening box after box of goodies and just marveling at the sheer overwhelming number of things an all-in pledge can get you.

I do think some of the KS projects use that mentality to drive their totals - making supporters feel like if they don't get *everything* now, they're missing out. However, when it all shows up at once (rare) or spaced out over a few years (more common) the initial interest might have dropped and/or you're just too overwhelmed to enjoy it all. For example, I just finished paining *one* of the core sets of Shadows of Brimstone. Haven't touched the other and I still have expansion boxes and a dozen or so more sprues of unassembled figures. I'm on overload so the result is that it's been sitting around untouched.

My problem is that I am definitely a card-carrying member of the Cult of the New. I love reading rules and learning new systems, but I don't necessarily enjoy actually playing these games. If there was a library somewhere that let me borrow copies to read through, tinker with and then return? That would be ideal.

But when I do get these damn games I tend to go overboard, mainly because in the ~8 so years I've returned to the hobby I've spent too much time chasing down out of print or rare games. In some cases I was in the middle of enjoying them when they ceased support and had to scramble to get bits. I know it's an irrational fear, but when the KS creators label things as "limited", it tweaks my FOMO receptors in an unhealthy way.

Probably about the best thing I've done is try to hold of on supporting all KS projects of interest. Instead, I've been trying to focus on KS that involve reprints or updates of well-received games. Of course there are always exceptions (trusted designers), but I definitely think the "Gold Rush" days of KS are over, at least for me.

Funding for Railroad Rivals is underway. $39 for colored, cardboard tiles, $59 for wood tiles, and $79 for one of each.

Bard's Tale IV Alpha is going live today - woot! Not much longer now, I think!

Carpet_pissr wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 2:12 pm Bard's Tale IV Alpha is going live today - woot! Not much longer now, I think!

Party size too many. Jeebus!

Does seem like a lot. I guess two of those slots are for summoned beings:

"You'll be able to command up to six adventurers, in addition to summoned creatures that can fight with you. During your turn, you'll be able to select any active party member in any order. These summons will be able to fill up all available grid slots on the combat field to make for large and chaotic battles."

Chrisoc13 wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:58 am

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:44 am I think one time in life, everyone should go "all in" on a KS project. I'd never play it either, but those miniatures look like they'd be fun to paint and display.

I wish this were something I have only done once in my lifetime.

We should start a club.

I watched most of a Let's Play of the Batman game and that was enough to convince me. All in.